Monday 21st July Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors Dr Robert Johnson This is a subject that students find very difficult to get motivated with. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenvalues_and_eigenvectors http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E63wnzYHYc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4N8vJpf7hM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdsV0RaC9jM http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/23312/what-is-the-importance-of-eigenvalues-eigenvectors http://anothermathgeek.hubpages.com/hub/What-the-Heck-are-Eigenvalues-and-Eigenvectors An eigenvalue is a number that is derived from a square matrix. A square matrix is itself just a collection of n rows of n numbers. An […]

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http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/charity-education/education/science-for-society-courses/mathematics/ Monday 21st July Introduction This course took place in the mathematical sciences building of Queen Mary University of London. It looked at the mathematics behind applications as diverse as cryptography, drug testing and the internet. The course included a mix of lectures and workshops, with an introduction to mathematical computing using the Maple package […]

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Tour of the Laboratories http://www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk/SiteMap.php Dr Frank Dillon kindly let us have a look at his laboratory and talked to us about nanotubes and his work with them. He joined the Nanomaterials Group in the Department of Materials, Oxford University in July 2008. He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of […]

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It’s Different for Girls How can parents support the take-up of A-level physics by girls? A briefing sheet Research published by the Institute of Physics shows that a shocking 46% of schools in England sent no girls on to study A-level physics in 2011. Physics graduates earn salaries well above the average and the subject […]

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Solar cells http://cnx.org/contents/dd0537a2-fb5d-439d-8feb-bf2e50656dae@1 Semiconductor solar cells In physics lessons we tend to just look at semiconductor solar cells. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell A solar cell (also called a photovoltaic cell) is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. It is a form of photoelectric cell, defined as a device […]

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Making gold and silver nanoparticles I was truly amazed when we were shown the range of colours that silver nanoparticles can produce depending on their size. http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2010/jm/c0jm01990a/unauth#divAbstract We were shown pictures of the different colours. I found the above image from the above web link. Each colour is caused by different size silver nanoparticles suspended […]

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These activities aimed at finding ways of experiencing the nano world and gaining confidence in using numbers to explain what we can’t see. We have nanodetectors built into our bodies. Our noses are particularly good. We can smell something such as dilute perfume without actually seeing it. To prove this we were given some scented […]

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Carbon and making a model Buckyball Introduction Studying material science allows new products to be made with greater efficiency and lower costs. The choice of material for a new product depends on the function of the new product and how its properties will enhance the product. A famous example is reinforced concrete. Concrete itself is […]

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An introduction to nanoscience and nanotechnology What is a nanoparticle? A nanoparticle is a particle between 1 and 100 nanometres in size. In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit with respect to its transport and properties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoparticle Nanoparticles have been around a long time having first […]

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Begbroke Science Park The day’s activities took place at Begbroke Science Park and they were brilliantly coordinated by Dr Vanessa Cheel and Dr Christiane Norenberg. If you are an interested teacher they are running the course again in 2015: 5 March 2015 & 15 July 2015 I can thoroughly recommend this course whatever your specialism […]

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